Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Tartines

Bonus post this week!

I was recently invited to participate in a recipe contest sponsored by Tyson Chicken; the point of which is to get the word out about their crispy chicken strips. I actually really like Tyson Chicken Strips. Yes, I’ve made my own chicken strips, but honestly they take a fair bit of work and time. Lots of egg washing (Total nuisance right?) which still leaves you with breading that may or may not stick well despite your best efforts. Sometimes it’s great to have perfectly breaded chicken strips without all the fuss. Plus, my kids love em’ and I don’t feel like I’m feeding them something terrible, which makes for an automatic winner in my house. Anyhow, I wanted to come up with a quick and easy recipe using these wonders in a bag that would make a great game day snack. After all you want to be watching the game not stuck in the kitchen making the snacks.

Before we get any further into the important business of game day snacks… I’ve gotta say: boo, no Broncos this year! Ok, got it out of my system. So… we’re totally making tartines! Specifically we’re making, crispy chicken bacon ranch tartines. In case you didn’t know tartine is essentially French for open faced sandwich. But doesn’t it just sound so much more chic to call it a tartine? The beauty of the tartine is that it can be made large or small, and since we’re thinking Super Bowl apps we’ve gotta go the finger food route. 

So we start with bread, french bread thick sliced works particularly well. (If you don’t have French bread sub in your favorite.) Then we add our Crispy Chicken Strips from Tyson, you can’t go wrong with juicy chicken and crispy breading as the meat for any type of sandwich, mini or otherwise. Then we’re loading these puppies up with thick cut bacon, creamy ranch, fresh tomato, and plenty of havarti cheese. Uh, yum! (If I do say so myself.) Pop into the oven until the cheese melts and the bread crisps up and you’ve got a perfect hearty game day appetizer.

I’m pretty sure that everyone from the game day guests, to your spouse, to your kids can get next to this one. Happy Game Day!

Crispy Chicken Paninis – Yields 16 appetizer sized wedges.

• 8 Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips
• 8 slices thick cut bacon
• 16 thick slices of french bread
• 2 medium sized roma tomatoes
• 8 slices havarti cheese

 1. Cook the Tyson Crispy Chicken Strips according to the package directions. When the chicken strips are fully cooked cut into bite sized pieces. Cook the bacon according to the package directions. When the bacon is cooked chop into small pieces. Dice the Roma tomatoes into small pieces.

2. Adjust the oven temperature to 350.* Assemble the tartines. On every slice of bread, sprinkle bacon pieces, tomato, and top with 1/2 slice of cheese cheese. Place the tartines on a foil lined baking sheet.

3. Bake until the cheese melts completely and the bread has lightly crisped 5-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle each tartine with ranch. Serve hot.

 I received a free bag of Tyson Crispy Chicken Strip from Tyson in exchange for participating in the Tyson Crispy Chicken Strip recipe contest. All opinions expressed here are my own.